Angiotensin-(1-7) Central Mechanisms After ICV Infusion in Hypertensive Transgenic (mRen2)27 Rats.

Previous data showed hypertensive rats subjected to chronic intracerebroventricular (ICV) infusion of angiotensin-(1-7) presented attenuation of arterial hypertension, improvement of baroreflex sensitivity, restoration of cardiac autonomic balance and a shift of cardiac renin-angiotensin system (RAS) balance toward Ang-(1-7)/Mas receptor. In the present study, we investigated putative central mechanisms related to the antihypertensive effect induced by ICV Ang-(1-7), including inflammatory mediators and the expression/activity of the RAS components in hypertensive rats. Furthermore, we performed a proteomic analysis to evaluate differentially regulated proteins in the hypothalamus of these animals.

Validation of quantitative real-time PCR for the in vitro assessment of antileishmanial drug activity.

In vitro assays play an important role in the discovery and development of new antileishmanial drugs. The classic macrophage-amastigote models using murine peritoneal macrophages or human-monocyte derived macrophages as host cells are useful for drug screening. A major limitation of these models is the dependence on microscopic counting, a time-consuming and subjective method of analysis.